Insurance Collusion and Hail Damage Repairs

Collusion and Control for Hail Damage Repairs is not much different than any industry that benefits from Insurance payouts.  Having been in the Paintless Dent Removal business now for some twenty years I recognize the policies of control that have been placed upon the American consumer.  In the Land of freedom; life is made up of choices, but with each passing year the variety of those choices is becoming more limited, while choosing to go your own way is becoming more difficult than ever.  Insurance business is in reality at the heart of American Dream and for most Americans this is cradle to grave control about mandatory limited choices.  To keep the discussion manageable I’m speaking about one small slice of this pie reflecting the use of Paintless Dent Removal for insured Hail damage claims.

Its quite normal for people to tell me their insurance company told them to go here or go there to get their Hail Damage repaired. While in twenty years in the business some large insurers like State Farm have never written me a single check while serving thousands and thousands of customers for Hail Damage repairs.  The reason is quite simple.  Control!    If I were to take my vehicle to any shop that is State Farm approved I can most often, assuredly say I have not done business there before.  This seems impossible even to me, but the statistical reality is that at least one quarter of all cars insured in the US are therefore a mystery to me, accept for the few that are my own insured by State Farm.  Of course that’s why this is so ridiculous.   If I want to take my vehicle for conventional repairs to a body shop that I’ve done business with I must first take my vehicle to a State Farm approved shop, then tow it again to the shop of my choice..  Ok, you say that’s not so bad, but that’s not the real problem with control policies.  Many approved shops for Hail repairs can give a quote then supplement that quote immediately once the car is there for repairs.  I’ve worked close enough to the situation to tell you that these supplements are a big deal for Hail technicians for State Farm who will place their own approved technician in an approved shop before they will send them all those low balled Hail claims made in the big Tent that will eventually get supplemented for extra money through the approved shop. 

So my wonderful customers who often choose to fight the good fight and bring their cars to me get a deal anyway and so does State Farm because they don’t have to supplement those estimates.  Meanwhile the big conglomerates wheel and deal with their many techs who come and go..some good some bad and some even ugly.